The forth time around they turned out a little bit better. I had a little bit of a deflation when the plastic wrap became stuck to two of the rolls. I need to come up with a better method to cover the ciabatta to let it rise before baking. I’d get a proofing cover, but I have a tiny kitchen and what else could a use a proofing cover for other then proofing bread? Continue reading
Category: cooking
Recipe for ciabatta bread or Ciabatta my mind
Anyone hungry for hockey pucks? Who knew it was so easy to screw up making ciabatta bread. On my first attempt to make ciabatta, it looked and had the texture of a very crude biscuit. While all the while in the end all I had to do was nothing. Yeah nothing! With nothing being, just let the dough rise until it becomes a monster. Then bake it all up, for it to become the softest bread that I’ve ever made. So at the time of writing this post I’ve already made ciabatta three times, and here is what I’ve learned so far. Continue reading
Cooking bacon in the oven
I learned to cook bacon from my mother, and her method was in the microwave oven. So naturally this was how I cooked bacon for the longest time. But the only downside to this method, it that at times it can be messy, and the final results can be inconsistent. Continue reading
Quick tubini in tomato sauce and meatballs
I wanted something hot & quick for dinner tonight since I can only eat mac & cheese 3 days in a row. Plus I wanted to use up the 6 meatballs from GFS that have been developing a heavy case of freezer burn. So here is my under 30 minute meal, made with garbage from around the house. Since I didn’t want to go to the grocery for anything (with a faint whisper from Macaulay Culkin………he’s cooking up garbage.) Continue reading
Bacon Breakfast Burrito Recipes
This is one of those restaurant recipes that I wanted to duplicate for a while. I mean how hard could it be to make. If a high schooler working at MickyD’s can make a breakfast burrito.
As a side note, I really don’t like eggs, especially undercooked eggs of any style (poached, soft cooked, sunny side up with a runny yolk, over easy). There is just something about the smell that turns my stomach. But enough about me, let get back to the burritos. Continue reading
Steaming French Fries – Microwave Method Update 2
Ok, so I made another batch of french fries, and tried a bunch of different stuff for this batch.
I was watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives a while back, and Guy went to Casper and Runyon’s Nook in St. Paul. And when they make their fries at The Nook they soaked the fries in a vinegar and water mixture before frying them up. So before I mircowaved the fries this time, I soaked the fries for 20 minutes in about 1 gallon of cold water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. You only got a little bit of the vinegar taste in the finished fries, so next time I might try using 1/4 cup white vinegar with a gallon of cold water. Continue reading
Poorman’s garlic bread recipe
I learned this recipe in Germany a number of years back. When I learned this recipe from Nook, it was one of those recipes created out of necessity. You’re living in Germany, trying to make some food to remind you of home in the United States. So what better then spaghetti and meatballs, with a couple of pieces of garlic bread on the side? Continue reading
Steaming French Fries – Microwave Method Update
I tried par-cooking the fries in the microwave, and the final product came out much better from the fryer. Following the general guidelines from the Cook’s Country Italian Crunchy Potato Wedges recipe. The original recipe stated to microwave the wedges/steak fries for 7-9 mins on high. I only cooked then for 7 mins 30 sec., and most of the fries were cooked. Next time I would microwave the wedges for at least 8 mins, so that all the wedges would be fully cooked. Continue reading
French bread pizza recipe
If the made the baguette bread recipe from earlier, you’re probably thinking what other dishes you can make with either the long baguettes or the petite baguettes. Well you can make a bunch of different stuff:
– Garlic Bread (poorman’s version or high class version)
– A nice and crunchy sandwich
– Croutons or faux bagel chips
– French bread pizza
– Bruschetta (or brushetta for those without spell check)
You get the idea……..
Homemade Pizza
I would tend to believe that most of us have had some kind of pizza making experience in our lifetime. Be it a roll of Pillsbury dough from the grocer’s fridge, or maybe a box of Chef Boyardee or Jiffy mix. In my opinion, most store bought pizza dough leaves much to be desired.
I for one love pizza and its many different styles, as well as the endless toppings combinations. So if there were a Top 10 list of cooking accomplishments for any home cook. Making a good pizza at home from scratch would be toward the top of that list. For myself on this pizza making journey, there was a lot of pain and suffering before getting to my current pizza mastery. But it all finally came together with a good recipe for dough. I’ve probably gone through about a dozen different dough recipes until finally concocting the current version that I use. So lets dive in and get rolling: Continue reading